This app can help students to produce very detailed movies
with titles and production information.
Students can work in teams to produce their own unique productions. The
recent discovery of seven new exoplanets (earthlike planets) in the Trappist-1 dwarf
star system would be a perfect example of a type of study they might pursue. It
would make a powerful statement when incorporated into the e-portfolio to show
how events happen in science. They would even be able to produce time-lapsed
videos, which show many reaction simulations in the lab. In science one of the
goals is to have students manipulate different parts of the experiment to see
how it will perform in other circumstances.
This will give the student creative license to observe how the changes
can be made using varying components.
This type of experimentation fits well into the TPACK model
by augmenting the teacher’s content, pedagogy and the student’s general
knowledge. The saying by Sir William Henry Bragg “The important thing in
science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking
about them” fits well into today’s technology driven classroom. This tool will
further allow students to explore and create, which is what science is all about.
Our new frontier is the many new technological tools that are being invented
and created today.
More and more schools have adopted the use of iPads in the
class because they are cost effective compared to laptops. With the focus of
BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) many families can afford an iPhone or android
phone for each student to have their own devices.
The second creative tool is the reel/director. This app does not have a fee associated with
its use. But, it has a few draw backs that might be a problem for youngsters.
It would work well for those who are interested in creating a movie of their
scientific exploits. They can create the movie, edit, join with other video
clips made by classmates and create something different and distinctive. It’s
an excellent video editing app, but I think this will only be of interest for
those students who are really into movie making as a future endeavor. Though it
captured my imagination for enjoyment I could not readily see how I would be
able to incorporate this app easily into the science classroom. It has a lot of
nice features, but I think it would best be served as a tool for the teacher to
document events of the class. Or just maybe have a group develop a movie of the
class’ research or science projects during the school year.
I will admit that this app does not seem to be something I
would easily want to incorporate in the class probably because of my lack of
vision. But who knows, I might allow
students to see how they would best use this tool. Besides, it still fits into
the TPACK model because it allows for so much freedom of creativity and
depending on what the pedagogical focus it might serve well.
The third app that was reviewed is a comicbook app. It has a 4.5-star rating for ease of use. It
offers excellent graphic effects and for the student who wants to create on the
level of a comic book it will be an outstanding tool. It has a small cost but early
adopters got it for free during the Beta trail introductory tests. That’s how
my daughter got a copy and says she loves it. The reviews listed on the
internet support her comments. Many apps can be added to your arsenal of new
apps in their trail periods and then you are grandfathered in at no cost. This
is a good idea since so many applications are being added to the market daily. Comibook
is available for use with the IPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. You can create a
cartoon-like comic book format to relate to any aspect of your learning
life. It’s fun and easy.
You can create motivational posters, Comic Chats and add all
kinds of comic book type features.; like Booms, Bams, Kabooms, Puff, Sproing,
Crash, Ziosh, Zzip, Splack and Spat packs that give you all kinds of creative looks.
You can tell a whole comedic story. You can make what you are learning fun and
exciting for yourself and others. You
can show expressions in word features that remind you of old Batman comics.
This app can fit into the TPACK model for content, pedagogy and technology. I
really enjoyed this appl because of the many graphic tools that it offers. This
is the app I can see using on and off throughout my tech journey. It’s fun and has great potential for student
use and freedom of individuality. They can create a whole story to tell about
their learning exploits and what they have learned along with the processes
they followed to learn them. Then they
can share that knowledge with other students.
This will make learning fun in a new imaginative way. There are many
resourceful ways to use this tool in teaching science. Currently there are more
than 1.6 million users of this app.
